View source for Trinity Sunday

{{Short description|Western Christian feast day}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox holiday
| holiday_name  = Trinity Sunday
| type          = Christianity
| image         = Shield-Trinity-Scutum-Fidei-English.svg
| caption       = [[Shield of the Trinity]]
| observedby    = Western Christianity
| date          = The Sunday after [[Pentecost]] (56 days after [[Easter]])
| frequency     = Yearly
| observances   = 
| relatedto     = [[Pentecost]]<br />[[Corpus Christi (feast)|Corpus Christi]]
| date{{LASTYEAR}} = {{Unbulleted list <!-- Note: Dates of Eastern and Western are often the same, but not always --> 
  | {{Moveable date |holiday=Trinity Sunday |format=infobox |year={{LASTYEAR}}}} (Western)
  | {{Moveable date |holiday=Trinity Sunday (Eastern) |format=infobox |year={{LASTYEAR}}}} (Eastern) }}
| date{{CURRENTYEAR}} = {{Unbulleted list 
  | {{Moveable date |holiday=Trinity Sunday |format=infobox |year={{CURRENTYEAR}} |cite=y}} (Western)
  | {{Moveable date |holiday=Trinity Sunday (Eastern) |format=infobox |year={{CURRENTYEAR}}}} (Eastern) }}
| date{{NEXTYEAR}} = {{Unbulleted list 
  | {{Moveable date |holiday=Trinity Sunday |format=infobox |year={{NEXTYEAR}}}} (Western)
  | {{Moveable date |holiday=Trinity Sunday (Eastern) |format=infobox |year={{NEXTYEAR}}}} (Eastern) }}
| date{{NEXTYEAR|2}} = {{Unbulleted list 
  | {{Moveable date |holiday=Trinity Sunday |format=infobox |year={{NEXTYEAR|2}}}} (Western)
  | {{Moveable date |holiday=Trinity Sunday (Eastern) |format=infobox |year={{NEXTYEAR|2}}}} (Eastern) }}
}}

'''Trinity Sunday''' is the first Sunday after [[Pentecost]] in the [[Western Christianity|Western Christian]] [[liturgical year|liturgical calendar]], and the Sunday of Pentecost in [[Eastern Christianity]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Christianity: The Trinity |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/beliefs/trinity_1.shtml |access-date=2016-05-20 |website=BBC }}</ref> Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the [[Trinity]], the three Persons of God: the [[God the Father|Father]], the [[God the Son|Son]], and the [[Holy Spirit]].<ref name="Trawicky2000p225" />

==Western Christianity==
[[File:Luca Rossetti Trinità Chiesa San Gaudenzio Ivrea.jpg|thumb|''Holy Trinity'', [[fresco]] by Luca Rossetti da Orta, 1738–39 (St. Gaudenzio Church at Ivrea, [[Torino]])]]

Trinity Sunday is celebrated in all denominations of the Western liturgical churches: [[Latin Catholic]], [[Lutheran]],<ref name="stpaulskingsville">{{Cite web |title=Questions and answers about Trinity Sunday |url=http://www.stpaulskingsville.org/trinity.htm |website=St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Kingsville|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617170149/http://www.stpaulskingsville.org/trinity.htm |archive-date=17 June 2013 }}</ref> [[Anglican]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trinity Sunday in the United Kingdom |url=https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/uk/trinity-sunday |access-date=2019-11-30 |website=www.timeanddate.com |language=en}}</ref> [[Reformed Christianity|Reformed]] ([[Continental Reformed]], [[Presbyterian]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trinity Sunday {{!}} The Christian Year |url=https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/worship/christianyear/trinity-sunday/ |access-date=2019-11-30 |website=Presbyterian Mission Agency |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Congregationalist]]),<ref name="UCC Worship Ways">{{Cite web |title=Trinity Sunday |url=http://www.ucc.org/worship_worship-ways |website=UCC Worship Ways}}</ref> and [[Methodist]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trinity Sunday/First Sunday after Pentecost |url=http://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship/lectionary-calendar/trinity-sunday-first-sunday-after-pentecost2 |access-date=17 March 2016 |publisher=United Methodist Church Discipleship Ministries}}</ref> 

===History===
[[File:Andrej Rublëv 001.jpg|thumb|''The Holy Trinity'' by St. [[Andrei Rublev]], using the theme of the "Hospitality of Abraham." The three angels [[Christian symbolism|symbolize]] the Holy Trinity, which is rarely depicted directly in Byzantine art.]]
In the early Church, no special Office or day was assigned for the Holy Trinity. When [[Arianism|the Arian heresy]] was spreading, the Fathers prepared an Office with canticles, responses, a Preface, and hymns, to be recited on Sundays. In the Sacramentary of [[Pope Gregory I|Gregory the Great]] there are prayers and the Preface of the Trinity. During the Middle Ages, especially during the [[Carolingian Renaissance|Carolingian period]], devotion to the Blessed Trinity was a highly important feature of private devotion and inspired several liturgical expressions.<ref name="directory">{{Cite web |title=Library : Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines |url=http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4620 |access-date=2019-11-30 |website=www.catholicculture.org}}</ref> Sundays are traditionally dedicated to the Holy Trinity.<ref name="Kosloski2019" />

The [[wikt:micrology|Micrologies]] written during the pontificate of [[Pope Gregory VII|Gregory VII]] list no special Office for the Sunday after Pentecost, but add that in some places they recited the Office of the Holy Trinity composed by Bishop [[Stephen of Liège]] (903–920). By others the Office was said on the Sunday before Advent. [[Pope Alexander II|Alexander II]] (1061–1073), refused a petition for a special feast on the grounds that such a feast was not customary in the Roman Church which daily honoured the Holy Trinity by the ''[[Gloria Patri]]'', etc., but he did not forbid the celebration where it already existed. A new Office had been made by the Franciscan [[John Peckham]], Canon of Lyons, later Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1292).<ref name="mershman" />

[[Pope John XXII|John XXII]] (1316–1334) ordered the feast for the entire Church on the first Sunday after Pentecost and established it as a Double of the Second Class.<ref name="mershman" /> It was raised to the dignity of a primary of the first class, 24 July 1911, by [[Pope Pius X]] (Acta Ap. Sedis, III, 351). Since it was after the first great Pentecost that the doctrine of the Trinity was proclaimed to the world, the feast becomingly follows that of Pentecost.

===Roman Catholicism===
In the [[Roman Catholic Church]], it is officially known as the ''Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity''. Prior to the reforms of the [[Second Vatican Council]], it marked the end of a three-week period during which church weddings were forbidden. The period began on [[Rogation Sunday]], the fifth Sunday after [[Easter]].{{cn|date=May 2021}} The prescribed [[liturgical colours|liturgical color]] is white.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Liturgical Calendar |url=http://www.usccb.org/about/divine-worship/liturgical-calendar/index.cfm |access-date=2019-11-30 |website=www.usccb.org}}</ref>

In the traditional [[Liturgy of the Hours|Divine Office]], the [[Athanasian Creed]] (''Quicumque vult'') is said on this day at [[Prime (liturgy)|Prime]]. Before 1960, it was said on all Sundays after [[Epiphany (Christian)|Epiphany]] and Pentecost which do not fall within [[Octave (liturgical)|Octaves]] or on which a feast of Double rank or higher was celebrated or commemorated, as well as on Trinity Sunday. The 1960 reforms reduced it to once a year, on this Sunday.

In the 1962 Missal, the Mass for the First Sunday After Pentecost is not said or commemorated on Sunday (it is permanently impeded there by Trinity Sunday), but is used during the week if the ferial Mass is being said.<ref name=":0" />

The Thursday after Trinity Sunday is observed as the Feast of [[Corpus Christi (feast)|Corpus Christi]]. In some countries, including the [[United States]],<ref name=":0" /> [[Canada]], and [[Spain]], it may be celebrated on the following Sunday, when the faithful are more likely to attend Mass and be able to celebrate the feast.

===Lutheranism===
A distinctive feature of Lutheran worship is the recitation of the [[Athanasian Creed]] on Trinity Sunday during [[Matins in Lutheranism|Matins]].<ref name="Senn2012" /> It may also supplant the [[Nicene Creed]] during the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]].<ref name="Senn2012">{{Cite book |last=Senn |first=Frank C. |title=Introduction to Christian Liturgy |date=2012 |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=978-1-4514-2433-1 |page=146 |language=English}}</ref> The [[Lutheran Book of Worship]], [[Lutheran Worship]], and [[Lutheran Service Book]] specify this.<ref name="Senn2012" />

===Anglicanism===
Trinity Sunday has the status of a [[Principal Feast]] in the Church of England and is one of seven principal feast days in the [[Episcopal Church (United States)]].<ref name="tec">{{Cite web |title=Trinity Sunday |url=https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/trinity-sunday |website=The Episcopal Church}}</ref>

[[Thomas Becket]] (1118–1170) was consecrated [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] on the Sunday after [[Pentecost]] ([[Whitsun]]). His martyrdom may have influenced the popularity of the feast in England. This observance spread from Canterbury throughout the whole of western Christendom.<ref name=tec/>

The [[Athanasian Creed]], although not often used, is recited in certain [[Anglican]] churches, particularly those of [[High Church]] tendency. Its use is prescribed in the 1662 [[Book of Common Prayer]] of the [[Church of England]] for use on certain Sundays at [[Morning Prayer (Anglican)|Morning Prayer]], including Trinity Sunday, and it is found in many modern Anglican prayer books.<ref name="Church Union">{{Cite book |title=A Manual of Catholic Devotion: For Members of the Church of England |publisher=Church Literature Association |year=1969 |series=The Church Union |location=London |pages=511–513 |orig-year=1950|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Jf9nmgEACAAJ}}</ref> It is in the Historical Documents section of the 1979 [[Book of Common Prayer]] ([[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal Church]]), but its use is not specifically provided for in the rubrics of that prayer book.

Parishes with an [[Anglo-Catholic|Anglo-Catholic churchmanship]] follow a [[List of Anglican Church calendars|calendar]] where [[Corpus Christi (feast)|Corpus Christi]] is observed on the following Thursday, or in some cases the following Sunday.<ref name="Church of England">{{cite web |title=The Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion (Corpus Christi) |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar |website=The Calendar |publisher=Church of England}}</ref>

===Methodism===
In traditional Methodist usage, ''[[Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965)|The Book of Worship for Church and Home]]'' (1965) provides the following Collects for Trinity Sunday:<ref name="BOW1964">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ckw6vgAACAAJ |title=The Book of Worship for Church and Home: With Orders of Worship, Services for the Administration of the Sacraments and Other Aids to Worship According to the Usages of the Methodist Church |publisher=Methodist Publishing House |year=1964 |pages=131 |language=en |access-date=25 March 2017}}</ref> 
{{quotation|Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the unity: We beseech thee to keep us steadfast in this faith and evermore defend us from all adversities who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. '''Amen.'''<ref name="BOW1964" />}}
{{quotation|Almighty and everlasting God, who hast revealed thyself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and dost ever live and reign in the perfect unity of love: Grant that we may always hold firmly and joyfully to this faith, and, living in praise of thy divine majesty, may finally be one in thee; who art three persons in one God, world without end. '''Amen.'''<ref name="BOW1964" />}}

===Dates===
{{Dates for Trinity Sunday}}
Trinity Sunday is the Sunday following Pentecost, and eight weeks after [[Easter]] Sunday. The earliest possible date is 17 May (as in 1818 and 2285). The latest possible date is 20 June (as in 1943 and 2038).

==Eastern Christianity==
[[File:ОДБЕЛЕЖАН ПРАЗНИКОТ СВ.ТРОИЦА ВО БАРДОВЦИ (3).jpg|thumb|upright|Dance at [[Bardovci]] church ([[Macedonian Orthodox Church|Macedonian Orthodox]]) marking Trinity Sunday]]

In the [[Eastern Orthodox]], [[Eastern Catholic]] and [[Eastern Lutheranism|Eastern Lutheran]] churches, the Sunday of [[Pentecost]] itself is called ''Trinity Sunday'' (the Sunday after Pentecost is [[All Saints Sunday]]). The Monday after Pentecost is called ''[[Monday of the Holy Spirit]]'', and the next day is called the ''[[Third Day of the Trinity]]''. In the Eastern practice, green is used for Pentecost and its [[Afterfeast]].<ref name="fomaru">{{cite web |title=Цвета церковных облачений |url=https://foma.ru/tsveta-tserkovnyih-oblacheniy.html |publisher=Православный журнал «Фома» |access-date=22 June 2024 |language=Russian |date=21 October 2016}}</ref>

==Music==

=== ''Alta Trinità beata'' ===
{{Main|Alta Trinità beata}}
The oldest hymn still sung to this day on Trinity Sunday is a 12th century Italian hymn and recorded as such in the [[Laudario di Cortona]], and known as ''Alta Trinità beata.''

=== Bach cantatas ===
The Lutheran musician [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] composed a number of [[Bach cantata|cantata]]s for [[List of Bach cantatas by liturgical function#Trinity Sunday|Trinity Sunday]]. Three of them are extant, including [[O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad, BWV 165|''O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad'', BWV 165]], [[Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding, BWV 176|''Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding'', BWV 176]], and [[Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, BWV 129|''Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott'', BWV 129]]. The cantata [[Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest, BWV 194|''Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest'', BWV 194]], composed for dedication of the church and organ at [[Störmthal]], was performed again in [[Leipzig]] for Trinity Sunday, first on 4 June 1724, a shortened version in 1726, and the complete version in 1731.

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="Trawicky2000p225">{{Cite book |last=Trawicky |first=B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lk6kzgEACAAJ |title=Anniversaries and Holidays |publisher=American Library Association |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8389-0695-8 |page=225}}</ref>
<ref name="Kosloski2019">{{Cite web |last=Kosloski |first=Philip |date=16 June 2019 |title=The fascinating history and symbolism of Trinity Sunday |url=https://aleteia.org/2019/06/16/the-fascinating-history-and-symbolism-of-trinity-sunday/ |access-date=9 June 2022 |website=Aleteia – Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture}}</ref>
<ref name="mershman">{{Cite CE1913|wstitle= Trinity Sunday|last=Mershman|first= Francis|volume=15}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{EB1911 Poster|Trinity Sunday}}
* [http://www.churchyear.net/trinitysunday.html All About Trinity Sunday]

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{{Trinity Sunday|state = expanded}}

{{Liturgical year of the Catholic Church}}
{{Lutheran Divine Service}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Christian Sunday observances]]
[[Category:May observances]]
[[Category:June observances]]
[[Category:Pentecost]]
[[Category:Holidays based on the date of Easter]]